Randy Foye finding 3-point gold from the catch-and-shoot

Nuggets guard Randy Foye is raising up and taking 3-point shots with much more confidence of late. (Photo by Karl Gehring/The Denver Post)

Along way to healing an ailing jump shot, Nuggets shooting guard Randy Foye has found a friend.

The catch-and-shoot.

Foye, “Mr. 500” – for the 500 shots he puts up many practice, and non-practice days – is already best known among his teammates for being the first in and by far the last one out daily. And that work has paid off for him in the most satisfying way – by watching basketballs sail through the rim.

He is a shooter. He was brought to the Nuggets as such in a summer sign-and-trade deal with the Jazz. It’s just that his shot had been slow to join him.

Not now. Foye is 11-for-20 (55 percent) in his last three games from 3-point range, by far the best long range shooting stretch of his first season with the Nuggets.

And despite an ability to hit jump shots off the dribble, it has been those where he simply catches and shoots that have led to the complete turnaround in his 3-point fortunes.

“Me personally, I’m telling him, ‘You’re getting wide open shots… All you gotta do is set your feet and knock ‘em down,’” Nuggets guard Ty Lawson said. “For us to win, he has to knock down shots.”

Here’s where catching and shooting has helped.

On the season, 92.3 percent of his made 3-pointers from the corners are assisted, per NBA.com. Above the break, that percentage is 81 percent. But during this hot streak, Foye has all-but-abandoned the corner 3, shooting just three from those two spots and making none. But he’s 11 of his last 17 from above the break. And staying true to the assisted-shot percentage, 81.8 percent of those makes are of the catch-and-shoot variety. Only 18.2 percent of those makes are off the dribble.

The Nuggets are 5-2 this season when Foye makes three or more 3-pointers in a game. They are 10-5 this season when he shoots 40 percent or better from beyond the arc, including 4-0 when he’s hit that percentage since Dec. 9.

Nailing 7-of-12 3-pointers in the Nuggets’ win over Boston had Foye acknowledging, “I felt like my old self.”

“That’s what we need from him,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “He’s in a nice groove right now, we just want to ride him as long as he’s hot like this.”

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.